The present invention relates to a refrigerator and more particularly to a gasket assembly and method of construction.
A well known type of gasket assembly is shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,469,383 and 3,359,053 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. In those patents there is described a gasket of extruded resilient material such as rubber, polyvinyl chloride, or the like and the flexibility or resilience of various portions of the gasket is controlled by varying the cross-sectional thicknesses thereof in order that each portion may perform the desired function or functions. For example, the base portion, which is secured along its outer edge to the door assembly, must be sufficiently thick and rigid so that its inner free edge is normally in engagement with the door surface and maintains an insulating dead air space beneath the gasket portion when the door is in a closed position. However, the gasket must also be sufficiently flexible so that it can be folded back upon itself during assembly of the door and gasket to provide access to the fastening or anchoring means employed to secure the one edge of the gasket to the door. The securement of the gasket to the door is by means of a long retainer strip made of metal through which fastening screws will pass and anchors the retainer strip to the door with one portion of the retainer strip gripping the rigid portion of the gasket to hold it in its proper position and the flexible portion acting as a seal against the face of the cabinet. With such a prior art gasket assembly special skills and sometimes a lot of rework is required to overcome the inherent gasket mounting problems to make certain that the gasket is properly positioned on the cabinet door to assure good sealing characteristics. As is often the case, the gasket is pinched causing the thin outer edge of the gasket to be distorted. In addition, there is a tendency for the gasket to roll, causing the front edge to be turned under when the fasteners are tightened. The gasket also has a tendency to be caught between the inner door and the retainer, resulting in gasket distortion. The assembly of this type of gasket assembly has high labor content because it is required that a portion of the gasket be manually pulled out of the way so that screw fasteners can be driven into the door to hold the retainer strips and gasket in place.
By this invention, there is provided a refrigerator and method of constructing the gasket assembly thereof which includes allowing the screw driving system to be automated if desired, which reduces the labor cost of manufacture that also provides no gasket distortion during installation and no bunching up to the gasket due to over-stretching during installation. It also provides even retention at the interface between the door and the edge of the gasket and in addition provides for ease of replacement of the gasket should it become defective and need replaced.